


Your face is a natural 20

by Pogniscrow



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Barbarian! Woojin, D&D, Druid! Jinyoung, Dungeon Master! Kuanlin, Fantasy-ish au, M/M, They're a mess, Wizard! Daehwi, Woojin can't feelings, cleric! Jihoon, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-16 01:36:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13043796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pogniscrow/pseuds/Pogniscrow
Summary: Park Woojin is horrible at Dungeons & Dragons, so he tries his luck on Park Jihoon instead.





	Your face is a natural 20

**Author's Note:**

  * For [2pork](https://archiveofourown.org/users/2pork/gifts).



> Please read this before proceeding: 
> 
> A few nerd things you have to know if you are not familiar with the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons.
> 
> To play D&D you need the expansive manual and your imagination (not kidding). You also need a Dungeon Master. The dungeon master is the person in charge of creating the story, the non-playable characters (essentially everyone else you encounter who isn't you or your party mates), and the person who puts the numerical challenge value for tasks. He/she sets the tone for your campaign, sometimes a good dungeon master is the difference between a good and bad one. 
> 
> Essentially, all characters are created through a numerical system that allows you to customize strengths and weaknesses based on your race and class. It's not really important in the fic, but the major characteristics are constitution (hit points), strength, dexterity, intelligence (scholary matters), wisdom (survival instincts) and charisma, with a subset of traits that are affected by the your proficiency in basic traits. 
> 
> D&D function on your player's proficiency and luck. The more proficient you are at a certain area, the more likely you will succeed in tasks that involve that trait, however it still poses the opportunity to fail by abiding to the die.
> 
> If you want to try to convince a man that you're telling the truth, tell if there's something hiding in the brushes, or slash an enemy, you are required to roll a d-20 (aka a 20-sided die), The dungeon master sets a numerical limit for success and if your roll is equal or higher than that limit you succeed. If it isn't, well you know what happens. 
> 
> There's a special rule though, and that is for the highest and lowest numerical values: 1 and 20. D&D players call it a Natural 1 and a Natural 20, as you can get values higher than 20 thanks to your proficiency bonuses. A natural 1 ends in a sure failure with and added consequence, while a natural 20 means sure success with an added bonus depending on the situation. 
> 
> Anyway, since this is role-playing game inspired, so think of that entire spiel as that long af introductory game sequence before you play. Now, we begin.

 

_The battlefield is filled with dead bodies, of orcs and humans alike. The familiar scent of iron and blood fills the air, and the grotesque mixture of smoke and fire paint the world in a blanket of constant unease. A large creature with deep purple scales and horns that arched proudly to the sky stood against the unfurling chaos. He’s equipped with minimal clothing, only fitting a sleek tabard, thin breeches and sturdy leather boots. A tiefling, the unholy matrimony of human flesh and demonic blood, stands eyes aglow, poised to fight with an axe bathed in red._

_“Zerax! To your left!” he hears from behind. The tiefling whips quick enough to evade a sword from plunging into his ribs before he raises his axe and brings it down upon the orc thundering towards him._

_The blow proves fatal as the axe cleaves straight through the orc’s head, sending blood and sediments of brain and cartilage spilling onto fresh grass._

_Zerax turns to the sound of the voice, seeing the slender elven woman garbed in robes of the purest white, her locks of silky ashen grey hair waving gracefully against her still youthful skin. Her full lips and a fuller bosom only a foolish ploy to hide the full-formed muscles hiding behind a veil of tender cotton._

_Alera Tallithyr, their cleric, stands with her mace at the ready. She points to her left, where in the distance there stands an ominous figure wreaking of the unholy stench of death._

_The battlefield was still covered in a haze of smoke and fire, but Zerax knew what it was, if the chill that overrides his body was any indication._

_Their mission began when their team was commissioned by the mayor of an outlying town to investigate the reason for the odd disappearances in their town, which all came with the cold winter’s chill succumbing the the small farming town._

_Only after weeks of searching did their team discover the source of the piling body count: a Lich sacrificing human souls to open a dimensional rift into the nine hells._

_And now they’re here, the lich visibly exhausted, eyes waning in vehement energy._

_They only needed the final blow._

_Suddenly, Zerax hears a familiar thump charging through the haze. He whips to the source to find a dire wolf charging into the scene, its mangy fur quivering in the sullen breeze. On top of it , a gnome sat proudly, his eyes aglow and his face relatively free of wounds. The team is complete, and it was now time to finish the job._

_Zerax looks at Alera and she nods. Holding her holy symbol close to her chest and chanting silently, she raised her hand to the tiefling, her eyes suddenly glowing warm brilliance of gold. Zerax feels a surge of power enter him as he starts charging forward, ready to strike. He leaps, axe over his head as he brings it down—_

“Natural one.”

There’s a collective groan as the table rumbles, the small figurines standing on a latex mat quivering at the disturbance. Woojin looks at the single digit staring at him tauntingly, shattering any of his dreams of finally finishing off the final boss.

A natural one. The most accursed term to ever hear in any Dungeons and Dragons game. Of a 20-sided die, there was one face that no proficiency or bonus would ever have the chance of saving. A natural one means instant failure and then some. It’s the equivalent of failing a midterm and getting punished for it. It’s the lowest of lows, and right now only fortune’s saving grace and Kuanlin rolling really badly that could save him from what seems like an imminent death.

“You trip on your face and lie incapacitated in front of the lich,” he says impassively as he tips over the tiefling figure that stood in front of the World of Warcraft figurine of the Lich King. There’s a mischievous grin on Kuanlin’s face as he looks over the carnage he has created. Woojin wants to gut himself.

Kuanlin plays their Dungeon Master, the teller of the tale, and the most stressful job in the game. Though the youngest of the five friends, he possessed the organizational skills and just the right flair for drama to create a story befitting of their heroic campaigns. He also enjoys seeing his friends sweat, so there’s that.

“Woojin, why are you so useless? I used a 3rd-level spell slot on you not for you to hand your face to the Lich.”

This came from their current cleric, Jihoon, who was in actuality very much not a woman. The pristine elf of their campaign was actually this little firecracker of a boy with more spit than kindness compared to the benevolent elf priestess he plays. Out of everyone, Jihoon was the only one who chose to play as a woman. He claims it’s for the love of acting. Woojin thinks he just wants to be seductive without actually being seductive.

“Woojin, this is your fifth time rolling a natural one in two hours, what’s wrong with you?” Daehwi says from beside. He looks peeved with his arms crossed and his eyebrows just furrowing a bit too closely to each other. 

He plays the gnome that rode atop the dire wolf that charged into the scene. Tanor his name. The primary spellcaster of their team, Daehwi functions as their glass cannon, who blasts fire balls, ice shards and, on special occasions, rifts in the space-time continuum to defeat their foes with relative ease. 

“Hyung, are you sure you even want to win?” comes the bored voice of Bae Jinyoung. He’s fiddling with his dice as he waits for his turn, his eyes scanning the laminated battlefield for an opening for his next move. He plays Wulfric, the wolf Daehwi rode into battle. Jinyoung had an odd affinity to wolves, hence the name and his preferred battle form. If Daehwi was their glass cannon, Jinyoung served as the wall that protected their secret weapon from harm. Though built as a melee druid, Jinyoung’s first order of business was making sure Daehwi wreaked mass destruction without having to worry about his minuscule hit points. He also conjures berries out of nohwere to feed them when they get stuck in forests without food. 

They were the fantastic four geared to rid the Forgotten realms of the evils that plague its fertile lands. However, as much as Woojin has made himself a “badass” character, half of playing Dungeons and Dragons was luck, with whom Woojin was heavily estranged.

Daehwi sighs and looks at the tipped tiefling figurine lying helplessly in front of the lich before looking at Kuanlin, “I cast banishment on Zerax.”

Kuanlin nods and faces Woojin, “Roll for charisma.”

_Tanor waves his hands in the air, tendrils of energy gathering in between his fingertips and forming a swirling energy of midnight blue. Then he gently prods the small ball, letting it dance in the air before he brings it down on Zerax’s still figure, ropes of astral magic raining on the tiefling like a spring storm._

_The next thing Zerax knows, he’s being enshrouded in a swirl of darkness as he gets engulfed into a vortex of power, his body seemingly floating through cold, lifeless air before dropping into a piece of land in a space of barren darkness. He’s covered in a layer magic--his anchor to his plane of existence—as he observes the familar scene of a small dimensional pocket in the middle of somewhere and nowhere. With nothing to do, he sits and waits, staring passively at the quiet bleakness._

_Sad to say, but this was a regular view for him. Tanor usually banished enemies to give temporary respite for the team, but on several occasions, he has employed it on Woojin to, "lessen the burden.' He wants to feel sad about it, but he knew it was for the best._

_He basks in the silence for a moment or too when he feels the familiar tugging, and before he knows it he's being pulled through planar rifts, as he spirals back into the dusty battlefield. He works himself to stand up, finding his comrades standing over the slain body of the lich._

“Can you do anything properly?” Jihoon jibes as they start packing their things. It’s evening and the boys had to evacuate Kuanlin’s basement and get back home for dinner.

“Where on your list of top ten most tragic D&D campaigns will you place today?”

Woojin contemplates the time he fell into an acid pit, the time he got petrified by a basilisk, and that one time the barmaid socked his character’s balls so hard that Jihoon had to tend to his injuries.

“Um, it’s probably not there yet.”

 “Will your character ever amount to anything ever?” Jihoon snorts, “You’ve just been trying not to die all this time.”

Daehwi squeezes in between the two, “Maybe he should start somewhere small, like his massive crush on Alera.”

Woojin huffs. He and Jihoon made their characters together and because they were sort fucking around with it at the time, Jihoon suggested that one of the Zerax’s plot points was his huge ass crush on Alera. Zerax would often try to flirt with Alera during the humble beginnings of their adventure, however, as they got deeper and deeper into the immersive world of the Forgotten Realms, the idea of wooing Zerax’s one true love slowly became a forgotten endeavor.

“I forgot about that,” Woojin says climbing up the stairs into the Kuanlin’s spacious living room, “maybe  I should.”

Jihoon snickers as they get out of the house, “As if, Alera would never fall in love with Zerax.”

“Excuse me? Zerax is charming.”

“Woojin, you made Zerax an exact replica of yourself, he even has a snaggletooth.” Jihoon says as he pushes Woojin out of the way, “You do not have game.”

Woojin stops and eyes Jihoon, “I bet you I can make Alera fall in love with Zerax.”

Jihoon turns around, “Are you really banking on your bullshit rolling skills to get my _superior_ character to fall in love with your demon?”

Woojin nods, “Scared?”

“Name your poison, my friend.”

“You have to tell everyone you meet that I have game and that I am a whole catch.”

“And if you fail?”

“I’ll be your slave for a week.”

Jihoon smiles as he reaches out his hand, “I’ll shake on that.”

Daehwi looks to Jinyoung with slight fear, “Where do you think this is headed?”

“I don’t care. I just want to eat dinner.”  

  

* * *

 

 

Their next campaign finds them in a seedy bar in a small town they were called to. This time they were hired by a hunter’s guild to take down a creature terrorizing the nearby forest.

“So, you all find yourself in a tavern, it’s much like any standard tavern you’ve encountered before. The bar stands at the center with shoddy wooden tables and chairs filled with adventurers and misfits. The atmosphere is light and slightly joyous despite the dreary interiors. You all feel a sense of comradery in the tavern, like these people have drifted and found respite in stranger’s company. What do you do?” Kuanlin says, his cover hiding most of his torso, his eyes on the team expectantly.

Jihoon raises his hand, “I go over to the bar and approach the barman,” he says.

Kuanlin nods, “How about the others?”

“I’ll follow Alera,” Woojin pipes up with glee. Jihoon eyes him knowingly, immediately rolling his eyes.

Daehwi and Jinyoung share a wary look at say in unison, “We’ll stay and look.”

Kuanlin, immersed in his story telling ignores the two, “So you find the barman standing cleaning a mug with piece of cloth. It’s a human, rather aged, with light wrinkles making up most of his face. He has a small scar on his forehead that goes from his temple to the parting of his scalp. What do you say?”

“I ask him for a mug of ale,” Woojin says before Jihoon can say anything.

Kuanlin looks slightly confused as he obliges, “The bar man agrees and prepares a you a mug of ale—”

“Then I say, ‘and another one for the pretty lady.’”

Kuanlin takes a pause and nods apprehensively, while Jihoon looks to the ceiling in obvious distaste. Daehwi and Jinyoung shakes their heads in shame.

“Wait, pause a minute,” Kuanlin says, “Am I missing something?”

“Woojin wants to woo me.”

“What?”

“Zerax wants to date Alera,” Jihoon says with dismissive wave, “as if that’s happening.”

“Why?”

“I bet Jihoon that I could get Alera to date Zarex, it’s also in my character sheet. I’ve just been trying to stay alive all these campaigns and it’s really getting depressing,” Woojin pipes in, waving his character sheet in front of Kuanlin’s face.

Kuanlin takes a second to think, then asks Woojin for his character sheet. He takes a quick look at the details and with a nod he hands it back.

“Okay.”

“What?”

“Okay.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Kuanlin shrugs at them all, “Character development is character development. So Woojin what will Zerax do?”

Jihoon shakes his head in disbelief as he settles back into his chair, arms crossed.

Woojin smiles triumphantly as he rummages through his many sheets of paper, “Okay, yeah. So Zerax tells Alera that her hair is a delicate as a rose.”

Kuanlin looks at Woojin’s stretched out hand, “Is that a cheat sheet?”

“Of course not. It’s my spell list.”

“Your character doesn’t have spells.”

“Not yet.”

“Weak shit,” Jihoon spits.

Woojin ignores his friend’s little tantrum to smile triumphantly at Kuanlin.

“Anyway, that’s what Zerax tells Alera.”

Kuanlin nods and gestures to Jihoon, “And her response?”

Jihoon pauses and looks at Woojin with apprehension. He knows that if it were him, he would have immediately turned down the advance, but Alera was built to respond with kindness and charity. She cherished her team, and had a soft spot for Zerax especially.

_Alera looks at the tall teifiling whose dark eyes have gone somber at the very utterance of such sweet words._

_She giggles lightly and finds herself pinching him lightly on the cheek, “You’re so sweet Zerax.”_

_The tiefling smiles big and wide as the barman returns with their mugs of ale. He raises his mug to her and says, “We’ve been through so much, wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t at least savor a moment of rest.”_

_Alera smiles, “Well, we have been adventuring for so long, one drink couldn’t hurt.”_

_They clink their mugs and let the warm liquid settle. The familiar warmth fills their stomachs and spreads throughout their body. The two sporting satisfied grins their face._

_Then, with a small blush peppering his cheeks Zerax closes in on Alera and whispers, “Would you like to go on a date with me?”_

“WAIT THE FUCK UP!” Jihoon screams.

Daehwi and Jinyoung have settled on watching the two converse, even Kuanlin was slightly entranced at how things were transpiring, his eyes glued on both Woojin and Jihoon.

Kuanlin just lets them proceed, “What does Alera say?”

Jihoon rolls his eyes as he ponders on his response.

_“Oh, Zerax, we’re on a mission, we don’t have time for that.”_

_Zerax withdraws slightly disappointed but steels himself, “I’ve always wanted to ask you to come to this beautiful lake with me, it’s very special to me. I know the timing is bad, but I just want to grab this opportunity right now before it’s too late.”_

Kuanlin has his hands over his mouth as he looks at the two expectantly.

“Roll for persuasion.”

Jihoon looks at their Dungeon Master looking betrayed, “What!?”

Kuanlin still very much entranced in their little exchange just shrugs, “It was a nice speech.”

Jihoon raises his arms in utter disbelief, “Jihoon do a straight up wisdom check.”

Jihoon smiles, Alera was wise and Woojin had not bonuses on persuasion, he’d probably be in the clear. He takes his D-20 and lets it loose on the table, it rolls a short distance till it stops near the center on top glimmered in gold writing “15.”

“Plus my modifier of six, 21,” he says with a triumphant grin.

Kuanlin looks over at Woojin, “Roll.”

Woojin gulps and cradles the small die in his closed fists. He kisses it once before he gently rolls it on the table. Jihoon looks intently at the small die roll on the wooden table.

Then his heart sinks.

Woojin did not have any modifiers on persuasion, it was statistically impossible for him to get a value higher than what Jihoon rolled. However, there was an exception to the rule.

A natural 20.

It worked like Newton’s third law of motion. The natural 20 was the buffer to the dreaded natural 1. They worked in equal extremes. The action and its equal and opposite reaction.

Woojin had everything stacked against him, but dear lady luck graced him today and found Jihoon on the losing end of a battle he should have won.

Woojin starts leaping into the air, while Daehwi and Jinyoung get off their seats in both amusement and awe.

“ZERAX JUST SCORED A FUCKING DATE!”

Kuanlin is smiling really wide looks at Woojin, “Alera, moved by the Zerax’s words accepts gracious and willing.”

“But what about the mission?” Jihoon protests, “we’re supposed to slay a beast in the forest, not go to a lake.”

Kuanlin shakes his head, “You should know this already Jihoon, the magic of Dungeons and Dragons is that you don’t know where the adventure will take you. Not even the Dungeon Masters knows.”

“I’m fine with them going on a date, I’m very entertained,” Daehwi says. Jinyoung nods beside him, “ditto.”

“But you prepared the entire quest! The monsters, the conflicts, the npcs!” Jihoon says in utter disbelief.

Kuanlin shrugs, “I’m a sucker for some romance,” he say before directing his attention back to the Woojin, “So, where are you two going?”

 

* * *

 

 _Alera looks out into the great lake of the_   _Iverix_ _forest. Zerax stands beside her, his eyes glowing with what seems like harrowing serenity that she has never seen on her companion’s face. She was used to his eyes brooding with disappointment and frustration, with longing for a second, a moment of brilliance in a life too filled with disappointment._

_“It’s beautiful, just like you,” he says tenderly, his eyes, for the first glowing with warmth._

Daehwi and Jinyoung have migrated to the couch near the table, content with watching Woojin try not to barf while saying his prepared lines to woo Alera.

“Can you please stop using that stupid cheat sheet!” Jihoon screeches, “Lin! Isn’t this cheating? Come on!”

Kuanlin contemplates for a moment, “Well, he does have a point.”

“But, I suck at adlib, you know that,” Woojin whines waving his five-page script in the air. He might have overprepared for this little date that may have not actually happened, but Jihoon telling everyone in the world he had game for a week was so hard to pass up.

“Hand it over Woojin, you can just imagine what Alera looks like and compliment her from there.”

“I have really bad imagination, I’m not even a hundred percent sure what Zarex looks like.”

“Then just compliment Jihoon, he’s plenty pretty,” Kuanlin says nonchalantly as he tucks the cheat sheet into his clump of monster sheets.

“Well,” Woojin says taking a good look at Jihoon, “I always did like your eyes.”

Jihoon almost spits out his water on the table, “W-what?”

Woojin doesn’t look fazed as he starts staring intently at Jihoon, “Zerax says, your eyes kind of sparkle, like when the sun hits the lake, it reflects so much beauty.”

Jihoon tries not to let the sudden flush of his cheeks affect him as he looks at anything but Woojin.

“Shall we proceed then?”

_Alera blushes crimson at the words, her eyes crinkling in affection. She turns to Zerax and smiles, “You are such a gentle soul, I hope others could actually see your true beauty.”_

_“You do, that’s enough for me.”_

_Alera takes his hand tenderly, “I want people to see how truly wonderful you are, Zerax. I want them to see beyond fire in your eyes.”_

_Zerax holds on tightly and smiles at her, “I don’t need their reassurance. I only need to know that you’ll see me like this all the time.”_

_Zerax pauses as he takes another look into the lake, “Truthfully, have you ever seen as a monster?”_

_Alera actually snickers, covering her mouth daintily as soft laughter escapes her delicate lips, “Truthfully,” she says eyes glinting with affection, “never.”_

“I’m going to hurl, oh my god,” Daehwi says, “Stop this, it’s disgusting. It was funny at first, but this we are in a place that I do not want to be in.”

Kuanlin looks affronted, “Daehwi, this is great character development for the two of them. It’ll add a new dynamic to your team. I’d like to see how this pans out.”

“I know Jihoon’s a good actor, but that blush on his cheeks is for sure not an act,” Daehwi says in mild disgust.

“I am not blushing.”

“And Kuanlin is Korean,” Jinyoun snickers from beside Daehwi.

Jihoon sticks his tongue out, “It’s because I feel really awkward, okay.”

“Sure thing, honey.”

“Can the stupid gnome who’s not supposed to be here stop talking?”

Kuanlin raises his hands to both Daehwi and Jihoon, “Now, calm down.  Daehwi, I know this may just be the most disgusting thing you’ve seen in your life but you agreed to this.”

Daehwi simpers into the couch as Kuanlin brings his attention back to Jihoon and Woojin.

“So, what will Alera say?”

Jihoon breathes in deeply as he thinks of his next line, “Remember that you are a precious person to me, Zerax. You all are. Other might see a demon, but I will always see a beautiful soul.”

Jihoon then looks at Woojin and waits for him to respond. What has surprised everyone this evening asides from Woojin’s preparedness for the date, was that he was faring far better than Jihoon, the latter having had to pause in between conversation.

“Do you know I’ve been in love with you for so long,” Woojin says quietly, his eyes looking straight at Jihoon, his voice laced with what Jihoon first perceives as sincerity.

“That’s what Zerax says,” Woojin follows up with a smile.

Even Kuanlin is shell shocked for a second as he tries to comprehend how Woojin sounded.

“U-um Jihoon, what do you say.”

Jihoon blushes a deep crimson, small beads of sweat forming on the temples and his forehead. He cards his curly brown hair and shakes his head as he takes a minute.

Woojin still remains deceptively unmoved and doesn’t even bat an eye at Jihoon’s flushed expression.

“Alera looks at him straight in the face and tells him, ‘I’m sorry I can’t return your love, not right now.’”

Woojin suddenly looks sullen at the firm rejection. Jihoon doesn’t know why suddenly he feels something in him leap, or why suddenly he feels something in him smile at the idea of Woojin sulking at his rejection.

“I think we can leave it there for now,” Kuanlin says apprehensively looking between the two. Daehwi immediately cheering at the idea.

Jihoon leaves in a rushed haze, not even giving Woojin a chance to say good bye.

“You know when you said you got game, I didn’t actually think you were serious,” Daehwi says approaching the table and helping them cleanup, “I just assumed you were bad at everything.”

Woojin pokes Daehwi on the forehead, “I don’t, I was just telling the truth.”

Daehwi pauses, the realization coming in belatedly, “So everything you said was just observation?”

Woojin nods, “Jihoon is a really attractive guy, and I was with him when we made Alera. I don’t remember much of how we made her, but I remember basing a lot of traits off of Jihoon.”

“Huh,” Daehwi says as he walks away. Woojin doesn’t ask, just continues collecting dice and thinking of how next to get Alera.

 

* * *

 

_Alera was a healer. Her most important job wasn’t only healing people, but also keeping herself alive. A dead healer meant a dead team. She stood behind the others as they fought, aiding them with magical enhancements and additional firepower._

_Though she was the backbone of her team, there was a certain area where she was head and shoulders above the rest. Alera isn’t just a matriarch of healing, but also a banisher of the unholy. She was the natural nemesis of the undead._

_As a member of the holy order of Lathaner, she possessed the power of light—the natural weakness of the aberrations. Like a shining beacon of brilliance sent from the heavens, Alera brought down her foes with the force of a raging storm._

_Zerax watches in utmost wonder as she sends the final blow to the last wave of monsters trying to invade the little village they were commissioned to protect._

_“I’ve never seen you fight like that,” he says as they survey the carnage._

_“Lathaner’s power flowed through me today. He guided me to victory.”_

_“It was magnificent, you were magnificent.”_

_Alera blushes as she turns away from him, “You have turned unabashed sir Zerax.”_

_“I am just appreciating the beauty that I just witnessed. Nothing less, nothing more.”_

_Alera walks to a fallen soldier. His body lay cold and unmoving on the dirt, Alera turns him over and gently closes his eyes._

_“Life is such a fleeting thing,” she whispers as she places a glowing palm over the slain soldier’s heart, “May you find your way to salvation.”_

_Tanor then comes scurrying to the two of them with slight disgust marring his face, “May the two of you stop flirting, the mayor is looking for us.”_

Daehwi looks at Jihoon, who has refused to look at Woojin during the entire campaign. His conversations with Zarex always had him looking at Kuanlin rather than the subject of his words. Woojin was still none the wiser, he still played the flirting game with as much feeling as a bark of wood, his words often teetering on the brink of reality that Jihoon just cannot stop blushing.

Kuanlin has noticed this and has awarded Woojin with little bonuses for making Jihoon blush that much.

“You all enter the mayor’s room together, noticing that the man whom you first thought to be steadfast and stern was now standing over his desk with a look of unease. He fists are tight and his eyes look like they aged overnight. He sees you approaching and with a harrowing breath he says—

 

_“There’s something you must know,” he says lowly, “That horde of the undead? That’s not the last of it.”_

_It’s Tanor who speaks, “How do you know?”_

_“I felt him.”_

_“You felt who?”_

_The mayor looks at Tanor in the eye with unease, “My brother. I could feel his spirit raging through the town.”_

_“But I thought your brother was dead,” Wulfric intervenes, “I thought the former mayor died in battle, why would he…” the human trails off as he moves his gaze to the fearful man’s eyes._

_“You killed him.”_

_The mayor takes a breath, then another, before he slowly nods, “I was jealous. He had everything and I was merely a speck in his shadow. You don’t know what it felt like.”_

_“There’s no need to explain,” Tanor squeaks, “We don’t have time for your sob story, we’ve come here to protect the village and that’s that.”_

_The mayor nods, eyes looking straight at his hands, “Thank you.”_

_“But how do we stop these hordes of undead?” Zerax says._

_“We kill the source.”_

_Everyone casts their eyes to the lone woman in the room. Alera looks pensive in her stance, eyes looking straight at the mayor._

“What does Alera know about the undead that may lead to what they’re looking for?”

“Roll for insight,” Kuanlin says rummaging through his Dungeon’s Master’s handbook.  

Jihoon nods checking his character sheet for modifiers to this specific trait, finding a +2 marked with pencil. He rolls his d-20 and adds his modifiers, ending up with a respectable roll of 17.

“Because of Alera’s deep training in the monastery, she has amassed quite an amount of knowledge on the undead, and as she jogs her memory she realizes that the mayor may be referring to a vengeful spirit—a revenant,” Kuanlin says his eyes looking at something covered by his cover.  

“Fuck,” Jinyoung says from the side, “Those bitches are intense.”

Kuanlin, ignoring the unwanted side comment continues, “They resemble the normal undead, but when faced with their target their eyes glow with unnatural force and they physically get stronger.”

“But their power decreases once their target isn’t within sight, right?” Daehwi’s got a glint in his eyes that everyone’s very familiar with. Part of why Daehwi was considered an integral part of the team was not just his capability to blast things, but for his way of skirting around certain death with his spells.

“I have a plan,” he says with smile.

_“It’s one of great risk, but if we execute it properly we’ll be able to defeat the fiend with much less trouble,” Tanor says, “but for this to work we need the participation of our dear mayor.”_

_Everyone looks to him with expectation, “I’ll do anything.”_

_Tanor nods as he draws himself upward, “We’ll use you as bait. We require him to approach us and that’s where you come in. Revenants have only one mission and it is to vanquish their killer. What I need you to do is to present yourself to him.”_

_“What!?”_

_Tanor ignores the mayor’s shock, “But you will be safe, do not worry. My concern is upon these three over here.”_

_Tanor looks to his party members and says, “I will send the mayor to another plane. You’ll have a minute to kill him.”_

“You really have to stop sending people to another existence,” Woojin says quietly.

“I’ve only ever sent you, though,” Daehwi says going through his spell list again.  

“You love that spell so much.”

“I always reserve a spell slot for you.”

“Should I feel touched?”

“No, you should feel burdened and try to roll better.”

“Not happening.”

Daehwi rolls his eyes as he looks over to the others, “Anyway, this is my last spell slot. After I cast this, I’ll be a sitting duck, so you guys better beat the shit out of that fucker.”

_The preparations for the battle has been set, with the mayor standing at the town square, Tanor standing a few meters behind him, with Wulfric, Zerax and Alera all positioned in front of them, prepared to fight._

_The night grows darker and the stench of decomposing flesh become stronger and stronger, as groans of the incoming horde grows more and more prominent with each passing moment._

_Soon enough the gate is overrun by zombies, in the center of it all, a body of decaying flesh and rotting bone that resembles the mayor._

_“Brother,” he whispers into the air, and like the corpse could hear, its sullen head tilts to face the mayor. Like a switch has been set, his eyes turn fiery red and his body starts jittering in unshakable rage._

_The mayor stands stock still as he sees the fallen form of his brother and starts hyperventilating on the spot, his body going numb at every moment he spends looking at the beady, red, glowing eyes._

_Then, with an inhuman burst of speed, the monster starts charging for its target, its limbs hankering to clobber, punch—kill._

_Tanor prepares himself, his hands once again gathering astral energy into his hands as the mayor quivers in his spot._

_The revenant is about thirty meters away from where the mayor is standing when Tanor releases the energy, shrouding the mayor in a veil of dark blue energy, leaving the spot where he once was empty._

_The rampaging revenant suddenly stops, his eyes losing all its rage and his body going limp._

_Tanor closes his eyes as he holds his spell book, his entire body covered in a thin layer of white power, “KILL HIM!”_

_Wulfric sees the incoming horde and leaps up, his body swirling in tendrils of green energy dropping into a giant brown bear, as he starts charging for the zombies._

_Zarex raises his battle axe and swings at the monster, his first strike missing him by just an inch. The body sways gauntly on the spot as he goes for another, this time plunging the axe straight into the monster’s ribs. However, as he pushes his axe into the rotting flesh, he finds his strike not even leaving a dent on the leathery skin._

_The revenant’s swings his arm out, his fist connecting squarely on Zerax’s cheek. The next one landing straight into his gut._

_Alera sees what’s happening and enchants her mace with radiant energy, as she starts running towards the revenant with her weapon drawn. She swipes once, only for the zombie to evade with relative ease. The revenant then grabs a hold of her neck, lifting her and then hurling her into the air._

_She flies, landing a few meters away from where Tanor, prone and unmoving._

_Zerax starts to charge once again, swinging his axe at the monster, only to end up with the same result, blunt dents into the monster’s thick skin._

_Frustration grows within the tiefling as he tries to bludgeon the monster with sheer force, only for the monster to come back unscathed, all the while pummeling the warrior with ease._

_Alera lies unconscious on the floor and Wulfric is busy dealing with the horde as the glow surrounding Tanor starts to flicker and fade. Time is running out and Zarex was left by himself to deal with the revenant. He tries harder, swings harder, only for the revenant to continue its attack unaffected by Zerax’s strikes._

_Then there’s a rush of magic that fills the field as astral magic starts gathering into the city center, meeting in the center to reveal the mayor. Tanor kneeling feebly as he feels the last of his magic leave him._

_Once more, the monster’s eyes glow red as he starts groaning, his muscles bulging as he starts charging for his target.  Zerax pushes himself in front of the monster, only to find himself lifted and brought down into the hard pavement before the monster mounts him and begins pummeling at him with relentless force._

_Zerax feels the life slowly leaving him as he lays there taking blow after blow after blow._

“Woojin, you get hit with 12 points of bludgeoning damage.”

Woojin looks gauntly at his character sheet. Daehwi, Jinyoung and Jihoon look on as he whispers, “I’ve hit zero.”

There’s a collective intake of unease as Woojin brings his die out to roll for his life.

Death in the world of Dungeons and Dragons is pretty much as final as death in real life, unless the dungeon master declares that one can resurrect, and even then, the process is extremely complicated and difficult, that accomplishing it in their current level an impossibility.

Unlike normal video games where death is pretty much a regular occurrence, in the world of tabletop games like this, a character is very much entwined with the player. You watch them take nervous steps into their first adventure, their first kill, their first victory. You walk with them, you suffer with them, you live with them. To an extent, these imaginary heroes become part of the players. They grow in front of you, gain new abilities and experience. They become a small part of each player. Bidding goodbye can sometimes take a toll.  

That was what Woojin was experiencing right now as he started rolling his saving throws, Zerax’s life literally in his hands.

Daehwi, who usually dismisses Woojin’s abysmal throws was now standing behind his friend, offering words of encouragement. Jinyoung had his hand comfortingly placed on his shoulder. Even Kuanlin was gaunt as he watched Woojin throw the first die.

“8”

Kuanlin keeps his face passive as he whispers, “You fail your first.”

Woojin has to succeed in three death saving throws, and cannot fail thrice. Woojin ticks the first box of his failed saves and waits for the next.

Jihoon is oddly silent as he watches from the far corner of the table.

Kuanlin looks over at Jihoon, “You finally wake up.”  

“I use my last spell slot to cast guardian of faith,” Jihoon says quietly.

_“You are not dying today, Zerax,” Alera whispers as she gets up from the ground. She cradles her holy symbol close to her chest and closes her eyes as she mutters incantations into the air, then pointing her mace to the sky commands, “COME FORTH!”_

_The sky parts as a brilliant beam of light shoots between Zerax and the monster, causing the revenant to jump back as if burnt by the light. From the brightness comes a large figure that towers both Zerax and the revenant. Its face is blurred by bright light and its body formed purely of radiant energy. It has a sword and shield, both gilded with a road reaching into the sky, the sign of Alera’s diety, Lathaner._

_Alera places both hands on her mace, the guardian imitating her posture, and with a great heave brings it down, the guardian bringing down an almighty strike onto the revenant, burning it with radiant magic._

_The creature screeches as its flesh burns from the brilliance of the sword. Alera then raises her mace once more and with a great swing, cleaves the revenants head clean off. The creature falling gracelessly on the floor as its flesh starts disintegrating into dust._

_From afar Alera sees Wulfric swipe at the last of the zombies, so with quick steps she proceeds to Zerax’s limp body. The guardian also disappearing as soon as she lets go of the spell._

_She cradles him into her arms and holds him close to her heart, “You will not die today, not today.”_

_Her last spell really took at toll on her, but she has just enough energy to pray with a gentle hand on the Zerax’s chest she says, “Live.”_

_A warm yellow aura flickers from her hand into his heart, coursing slowly through the tiefling’s body. Alera sees it travel and seep into every portion of his figure, then with a final glimmer he breathes._

The entire group gets up in relief as Kuanlin says that Zerax has stabilized and is no longer on the brink of death. Jihoon sinks his head onto the table. His heart is still rocking against his ribs and he has sweat creeping down his nape, but he’s relieved. He’s happy.

Woojin suddenly gets up from his seat and starts hugging Jihoon all of a sudden.

“AHHHHHH! I WANT TO KISS YOU RIGHT NOW!” he screeches into Jihoon’s back.

Jihoon feels his heart racing once more. He cannot contain the way it reacts when Woojin touches him.

He’s not supposed to feel like this. He’s not supposed to feel so fucking attracted to Park Woojin, but he is. Park Jihoon is attracted to the boy who couldn’t amount to anything in the game, but is also sweet, and genuine, and honest. He’s attracted to the seemingly innocent charm that he excludes. He’s attracted to his smile and how goddamn sweet he is.

He can’t sort out things anymore, not when Woojin looked like he was genuinely flirting with Jihoon all the fucking time, not when a little part of him wanted the words to be Woojin’s and not Zerax’s. Not when he blushed with every sweet word that came out of his bigass mouth.

Jihoon was attracted to Park Woojin and he wanted to gut himself.

So as Jihoon blushes and murmurs death threats, Woojin hugs and celebrates his rebirth into the fictional world.

Daehwi looks on knowingly.

 

* * *

 

Woojin and Daehwi are walking back home when he decides to bring up the topic, “So, Jihoon.”

“What about him?”

“Do you like him?”

Woojin scrunches his face at Daehwi, “What do you mean I like him? Of course I like him, we’re friends.”

“Huh.”

Woojin might be plenty idiot most of the time, but of the many little things that he does notice, Daehwi being a prick is one he’s mastered.

“I don’t like your ‘huh.’”

Daehwi shakes his head, “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing when even I notice something’s up.”

“Oh, good deduction skills,” Daehwi says, “but since there’s no escaping it, have you noticed anything different with Jihoon?”

Woojin stops and tries to remember, “I’m drawing blanks, bud.”

Daehwi sighs as they continue their way home, “Have you noticed how he doesn’t look at you anymore?”

“Oh, now that you mention, he has talked less,” Woojin says trying to catch up to Daehwi.

“Remember when you were making Alera with Jihoon,” Daehwi says, “you forgot a small detail.”

“He asked me to give him descriptions for a girl character,” Woojin says scratching his head, “that’s what I remember.”

Daehwi shakes his head, “Your missing a little detail, my friend.”

Woojin groans as they approach Daehwi’s house, he’s about to turn the knob when Woojin yanks his arm away, “Tell me.”

Daehwi turns to Woojin as he shakes his hand off him, “Jihoon asked you to describe your ideal girl, Woojin.”

He takes a steps back and thinks back to the day he and Jihoon made Alera. Then, then he remembers Jihoon saying that. Then it hits him.

“Oh.”

Then it dawns on Woojin like an avalanche plummeting its way to destroy a small ski resort on the side of a mountain.

“Oh.”

Then like the precise moment a volcano erupts, Woojin’s head explodes with an encyclopedia sized realization.

“Oh. Fuck,” he says with a distant voice, small like his breathe cycle had started to malfunction and had him breathing only on intervals, “I need to sit down, this is too much to take in.”

Daehwi rolls his eyes, “You sit down by yourself, I need to eat.”

So as Woojin sinks into the cold floor of Daehwi’s porch, his friend leaves him to fend for himself against the onslaught of realizations churning through his easily overwhelmed head.

“I like Jihoon,” he whispers into the night.

He sits there with his head buried in his hands for god knows how long. He remembers Jihoon asking him to give him descriptions, and him just staring intently at Jihoon. Staring at his eyes, his cherry-red lips that always like they were self-glossing, his soft, supple cheeks, his soft auburn hair, his warm smile.

That’s why it was so easy, so natural, for him to flirt with Alera, how it was so convenient for him, how he suddenly found himself so, so smooth.

He doesn’t know how long he sits there until he feels another figure sit beside him. It’s Daehwi with a plate of pumpkin pie in his hands.

“At what point of your epiphany are we on?”

Woojin groans, “I like Jihoon.”

“I never knew,” Daehwi says with the least amount of sincerity as he takes another forkful of pie, “but lucky for you, I have a plan that will not only get you to confess, but give me and Jinyoung something to sink our teeth into.”

Woojin doesn’t like the smile Daehwi has on, but agrees, he has not choice at this point.

 

* * *

 

Their next campaign sees the team in a bustling city where Kuanlin gives them free time to load on potions, refine weapons, or just do things character-specific.

“I want to head to the arcanist,” Jihoon says excitedly.

Jinyoung and Daehwi give each other a subtle nod, “I’ll head to the apothecary.”

“Me too.”

Kuanlin nods, Jihoon taking his time to check through his item list.

“I’ll go to the apothecary too.”

Jihoon raises his head to face Woojin, “But you don’t have any magic.”

Woojin shrugs, “Zerax just wants to spend time with Alera.”

His smile is mischievous and it does something to Jihoon that he does not like.

As the team would separate, the dungeon master would do the simultaneous situations in order.

“So, who’ll go first?”

“Jihoonie seems to be excited about going to the arcanist,” Jinyoung says with a grin, “they should go first.”

“Alright, so you two head on over to the arcanist. Once you enter, you see shelves of tomes and magical items lining the room, and a single table with a hefty looking halfling sitting with gemstones in his hands. What do you do?”

“Zerax whispers something to Alera,” Woojin says immediately, his hand shooting up as he sees Jihoon preparing to say something.

Kuanlin nods rather taken aback at the excitement, “Sure.”

“Zarex says, ‘Alera, you look beautiful today.’”

Jihoon tilts his head to Woojin with a supreme look of disgust, “Are you seriously flirting right now?”

“I want to win this bet.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes as he faces Kuanlin, “I tell Zerax that this is not the time.”

But before Kuanlin can even respond, Woojin is talking once again, this time with more insistence, “I tell Alera that even though she might be a huge prick most of the time, I still really like her.”

 “When has Alera Tallithyr ever been a fucking prick!?” Jihoon retorts with rage not befitting the character he’s playing, “She’s nothing but the nicest bitch this side of the Forgotten Realms. If anything, she should be scolding Zerax for being a constant nuisance in her fucking life.”

“Zerax tells Alera that even though she sometimes looks like an ice troll, Zerax will love her for an eternity.”

“A fucking ice troll!? Alera is the most beautiful creature Zerax has ever seen in his life.”

Jihoon is standing now, his face beet red as continues screaming at his companion. Woojin is still calmly looking at Jihoon with an impassive expression.

“Zerax tells her that even though he likes her hair to be auburn brown and that she change her name to something cuter, he will still love her.”

“What are you even saying!?” Jihoon says, his hand gripping his player’s manual, ready to hurl it straight at Woojin.

Kuanlin is stock still at he watches the disaster unfold before him, his eyes trained on the two going at each other. Daehwi and Jinyoung have just relegated to enjoying the show, with Jinyoung sharing a chocolate bar with Daehwi.

“Yeah! Zerax would like it very much if Alera change her name to Jihoon.”

Jihoon stops. He feels something in his gut drop, as the rage that once filled his face slowly turns into a crimson flush of embarrassment.

“Oh,” he says lowly as he settles back into his seat. He bows his head as he feels embarrassment and fear (a fluttering) settle in his heart.

“Um,” he says almost inaudibly, “Maybe, that’ll be fine.”

Woojin feels a blush creep into his cheeks as well, “Is this from Alera or Jihoon?”

“Maybe both.”

“Oh.”

“I like that.”

“Me too.”

Jinyoung and Daehwi both rise from their seats applauding the two. Kuanlin, only realizing what had transpired leaps up and starts congratulating the two.

Woojin and Jihoon just stare at each other with matching looks of embarrassment and warmth.

“I win the bet.”

Jihoon nods, “Guess you did,” he says quietly as Jinyoung drags his seat so that he’s next to Woojin, “but I don’t know if I want tell people your smooth.”

Woojin feels offended, “Hey, but that’s the bet!”

Jihoon slowly reaches his hand over to grasp Woojin’s while simoultaenously looking away, “Maybe I don’t want to let people know that thing about my boyfriend.”

“Oh my god! They’re already being disgusting, I love it!” Jinyoung squawks as they all stare at them.

Woojin just nods, “Maybe,” he pauses as he grasps Jihoon’s hand with both of his, “maybe you can just tell everyone that I’m your boyfriend, then maybe pay for our first date. I’m low right now.”

Jihoon shakes his head as a soft chuckle escapes him, “Okay. I like that.”

Woojin, by some power of the divine finds the strength and courage to turn to Jihoon and place a soft kiss on his cheek.

Jihoon doesn’t flinch, but he ducks his head as his face burns with indescribable glee.

“Next time do it on my lips.”

Woojin almost chokes on his saliva, but thankfully he saves himself enough to say, “okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dearest 2pork, 
> 
> I know this isn't what you initially asked for, but I do hope you still enjoyed it. I know you wanted Jihoon to kill people with his winks, but hey he kills people here with radiant energy, so yeah.


End file.
